Sunsara Taylor, Defending the Claremont McKenna College Students and Getting Ready for the Future

Shutting Down Heather Mac Donald at Claremont McKenna College

Sunsara Taylor, writer for revcom.us/Revolution newspaper, and co-initiator of RefuseFascism.org, joins us to talk about the harsh punishment given to students at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, California, for setting an example for people everywhere by shutting down a speech by the white supremacist and fascist Heather Mac Donald. Three students have been suspended for a year and two others suspended for a semester for the non-violent protest that stopped Mac Donald from spreading fascism and white supremacy, attacking the Black Lives Matter movement and portraying killer cops as victims. Defending these students, and others who may be targeted, is a crucial part of opposing fascism.

Speaking of a speech Trump recently made to an audience of cops, Jeffery Robinson, Deputy Legal Director of the ACLU and Director of the Trone Center for Justice and Equality, wrote, "Donald Trump made sure that police officers around America knew that if they use illegal, unnecessary force when arresting suspects, he will have their backs. He then doubled down by promising to repeal anti-police laws that don't exist. This is the man who said he could kill someone on Fifth Avenue in New York, and it would not make any difference to his supporters. Apparently, he believes he can make up laws and then pretend to repeal them, and no one will notice. Was he joking? I don't think so."

Trouble in Mind, by Alice Childress, at the Theatricum Botanicum

We'll speak with actors Earnestine Phillips and Max Lawrence, from a recent prouction of Trouble in Mind. The play, by Alice Childress, was first performed in 1955. It portrays a group of mostly African American actors who begin rehearsals of a new play written by a white playwright, under the direction of a white director. During the course of the rehearsal, it becomes clear to one member of the Black cast that following the direction they are given would mean giving up part of their humanity.